Summer Sonic: 40K Per Day In Tokyo

Summer Sonic – Chance The Rapper
plays the Marine Stage at Summer Sonic, his first appearance in Japan

Organizer Creativeman Productions reports that 40,000 people a day attended the Summer Sonic festival in Tokyo on Aug. 18-19, with an additional 30,000 attending the Aug. 17 all-night rave, SonicMania. 

The Osaka leg of the festival hosted 30,000 people Aug. 18 and 20,000 Aug. 19. The numbers represented a slight retreat from last year, when 10,000 more people attended the Tokyo leg on Saturday. Total attendance for both Tokyo and Osaka was down about 12,000 from last year. 

But don’t blame the weather, which couldn’t have been better. Though Japan, like much of the rest of the world, has been suffering through a punishing heat wave for most of the summer, the weekend was sunny but also breezy, with tolerable temperatures during the day. 

The headliners at the Zozo Marine Stadium in Chiba City, just east of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay, were Noel Gallagher on Saturday and Beck on Sunday. Headliners at the smaller stages in the neighboring Makuhari Messe Convention Center and on the beach incuded Queens of the Stone Age, Tame Impala, Kamasi Washington, Ned Doheny, Nickelback, Paramore, George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic and Jess Glynne. Other notable foreign acts were Shawn Mendes, Marshmello, Mastodon, Bullet For My Valentine, Friendly Fires, Nick Heyward, Dream Wife, Mike Shinoda, Chance the Rapper (making his first appearance in Japan), J Balvin, St. Vincent, Rex Orange County, Thundercat, Kelela, Iamddb, Jorja Smith and Portugal. the Man.

Many online commentators said the most notable characteristic of this year’s edition was the concentration of Japanese acts, which comprised more than half the roster. Two stages, in fact, were completely dedicated to Japanese artists, both old and brand new, and these stages were conspicuously well attended compared to the other stages where foreign acts mixed with local ones. 

Summer Sonic – Noel Gallagher
plays the Marine Stage at Summer Sonic festival in Japan.

As usual, there were a few cross-cultural events. Japanese singer Daoko joined Beck during his set to sing a song they had released together. Also, during the all-night Midnight Sonic event, which ran from 11:30 p.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Sunday morning in the convention center, Kom-I, the lead singer of the popular J-pop/hip-hop hybrid Wednesday Campanella, joined the French psychedelic rock band Mooioid for a few numbers. (Midnight Sonic also featured Sparks and Wolf Alice.) Mike Shinoda was joined by Japanese top rock act One OK Rock, but only in Osaka. 

Another highlight was the Chinese rap collective Higher Brothers, which, minute for minute, may have garnered the most enthusiastic ovations of the weekend despite the fact that they played on a smaller stage on Sunday afternoon. That same stage featured a number of Korean acts who were also extremely well received. 

It’s been reported that they will expand the festival to three days for their 20th anniversary, something the event has done only once before.